The Dog Story

  “One dog barks at something, the rest bark at him." - Chinese Proverb                                                 

 “Barking dogs seldom bite” proverb was finely taught to me by Bobby master in my fourth standard at St Mary’s. Unfortunately, like great Warrior Karna, who forgot the crucial Mantra in the hour of need, I forgot it every time a barking dog came rushing at me, especially when not chained.
Due to my phobia, many of my casual encounters with those innocent animals have turned out to be tricky and even enlightening ones. Here I share one such experience, which happened during my term-end holiday after my first year PU.

The Buffalo Race (Kambala) Detective

Like most in the twin districts, I too had heard about Kambala quite early in my childhood. But had never witnessed one, as Idea of losing precious night-sleep, just for knowing which among those dark and not so lovable animals would run fastest, never amused me. However, strange behaviour of some of my fellow villagers while talking about Kambala started nagging me. I was baffled with the overt excitement in their voices while talking about it. Often I saw sparkle in their eyes and also a strange undertone of joy and pride in their voices. This made me believe that Kambala had some special virtue that I had failed to figure out and I felt the need to know it. Hence, when my friends organised a visit to Aikala Kambala as part of a family get together, I joined them. I am glad, I did.

I was too keen to know the secret that made Kambala an exciting event. Hence, I rushed to the racing arena leaving my friends behind. The place was bustling with activity with air of festivity all around. People were present in hundreds. But the Buffalo presence was overwhelming. Almost every square inch of land had either a buffalo or its dung on it. I found no early clue for the secret that I was pursuing and pushed myself near to the racing fields.

Visit to Eiffel Tower

Visit to Paris was one of the memorable events of my Europe tour. The city’s reputation as the fashion hub of the world and vivid tales that I had read about its people, culture and history had aroused in me a strange curiosity to see, feel  and know it.  I had picturised in my minds screen a unique image of the city and after the visit realized that the real Paris was far more breathtaking and is beautiful beyond imagination.

Paris is loaded with wonderful things to see and do (if you can afford!). It has countless treasures sprinkled all across it, you need at least 15 days to see it fully. Any lesser period wouldn’t do justice to your visit. I stayed in Parish for four Nights and five days and parted it feeling disappointed about inadequacy of time.

Paris has been bastion of Christianity and the spectacular churches and elegant medieval cathedrals that are sprawled all across are its proof.  Numerous variety of  gardens, parks and squares that are elegant in design and stunningly different from every other of its own kind are feast to watch for the teems of visitors who throng it. Then there are its hundreds of monuments and fashion centers and those shopping boulevards where a trouser costs Rs. 80,000  and a Mercedes made Bicycle costs Rs. 1,40,000. I repeat, Bicycle!!. Not to forget hundreds of monuments, those have timeless tales of history to tell.
Episode 1: Visit of Eiffel Tower